Proud And Regal (nearside) just beating Espionage in the Criterium International© Photo Healy Racing
Proud And Regal will put his Derby credentials on the line in the Group 3 Derby Trial at Leopardstown on May 7.
The Galileo colt filled the runner-up spot behind Al Riffa in the National Stakes last autumn before going one better in the Group 1 Criterium International at Saint-Cloud.
“He went nicely in a gallop after racing (at the first Curragh meeting) and is in great form,” reports trainer Donnacha O’Brien.
“He’d have a Group 1 penalty in a lot of the early Trials but doesn’t have one at Leopardstown so that is what we are thinking of for him.
“It’s ten furlongs around Leopardstown so we’ll learn a bit and know where to go with him then. It’s a bit of a fact-finding mission and, if he doesn't stay, we’d have the option of going back to an Irish Guineas.”
O’Brien also had news of Piz Badile, runner-up to Westover in the Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby last year, who was taken out of an intended reappearance in the Alleged Stakes at the Curragh yesterday.
“I was hoping the ground would dry out a bit but they got rain overnight which wasn’t forecast.
“It’s very tacky, holding ground and I didn’t want to gut him on his first run of the year. He’s perfect and we might look at the Mooresbridge in two weeks’ time.
“He didn’t have any issues last year but we put him away and felt he would make into a good four-year-old. He’s done really well and his work has been very good.”
